It's Sunday night, which means I've got my Fred Flintstone signature model toothpicks in place, to prop open my eyes, but today was a good day and I got a lot done. Before I rattle off my list of accomplishments du jour, I must point out that only hard core Flintstonians will "get" the above reference. All others will have to begin sifting through episodes at their earliest possible convenience......although (hint hint) : I just did some Googling, using a few choice words (hint hint), and if you do the same, well.....
You might find yourself exclaiming "Goodbye Mr. Spalding"! That's all I will say for now.
But back to the day's events, the singing was good in church this morning. Last week Pastor Gordon left us to go to Hawaii, and today marked the final service for our Associate Pastor, Arlette. She is headed for Madagascar, her home country, after eleven years at Reseda Methodist. So now, both of our pastors have gone, and we await the arrival of Pastor Harris from Oceanside.
I am off work as noted last night, and so when choir rehearsal was over I was back home by Noon. The first thing I did after drinking some coffee was to tackle my junk mail drawer. That's where I toss all the solicitations that I should just throw out on sight, but instead I toss 'em in there, where they take their place among folded up full page computer printed concert tickets that I save for a someday scrapbook, and other more annoying stuff like bills for old car regisphilbinistrations, that I paid online but never threw out the envelope.
I've gotta pause here to ask you to please never write, or say, the word "registration" without inserting "philbin" into the center. Can you do that for me? It's very important and I thank you in advance. The same goes for the word "outrageous", although that requires you to slightly alter the latter half of the word so that it pronounces as "outregis", to which you can then add the necessary "philbin" at the end.
If I can get back on track after that, I will do so. Lemme try....
After I finished with my mail drawer, I started work on a project I've long intended to complete : creating a collage out of four drawings I had finished earlier in the Spring, arranging and taping them to black posterboard, and then interspersing cut out pieces of smaller images from unfinished drawings to add Weirdness and create a large collage piece. Taping down drawings is time consuming because you've gotta get 'em level and you've gotta press down with care, so that you don't smear anything. When I say "tape" I mean making double sided loops of Scotch tape and putting them on the backs of the drawings. I know I could use glue or paste, but the good thing about tape is that if you screw up you can fix it with no mess. The downside is that tape doesn't hold forever and eventually dries out, but that takes many years, and then you can just re-tape.
But yeah, I finally made my collage, and I am stoked. Now I wanna make a more advanced collage entirely out of cut pieces that fit together like a puzzle.
After that I went for a CSUN walk at 4pm, then I came back and read some more of "The Outsider" by SK, while listening to Bass Communion. Did I mention Bass Communion? Man, I can't remember a lot of stuff in The Age Of Information, but if I didn't mention BC, it is Steven Wilson's long time side project of Ambient Music. I had been meaning to buy a Bass Communion cd for a long time, and I finally did. The one I got is called "Ghosts On Magnetic Tape". Mr. Wilson described it as sounding like an hour long EVP experience, which was what sold me. It's not music per se, but more of a soundscape, and it sounds very much as the title describes. It's a perfect cd to read to, especially when reading Stephen King, and in fact it is so good that I just ordered my second Bass Communion album, called "Loss". I will let you know when it arrives.
Finally tonight, I watched a movie called "Waterloo Bridge" (1931), directed by James Whale, who would go on to great fame with "Frankenstein" later in the same year. There are two versions of this movie, the more famous one being the 1940 remake starring Robert Taylor and Vivien Leigh. I first saw that version years ago, and it is excellent, but being a big fan of James Whale I've always wanted to see his original version, and I tracked it down finally, on a dvd set from a collection of pre-code films called "Forbidden Hollywood".
Man, was this original version great! Early sound-era actress Mae Clarke stars as Myra, a chorus girl in a hit stage show in London who finds herself out of work as WW1 rages and German bombs rain down on the city. She turns to prostitution to make ends meet, and even though the movie is pre-code, this was a bit of a taboo subject and is only hinted at. While walking the street near Waterloo Bridge, she meets a youthful Canadian soldier. She brings him home, but to her surprise - and dismay - he falls in love with her.
So begins the plot, and I'll divulge nothing further. The more famous 1940 version is slicker and more Hollywoodised - and it is a great tearjerker in it's own right - but having now seen the original, I think it is much more realistic. Mae Clarke is a revelation, what a great actress for that early era. She was playing a very complex, emotional part - a leading role - when the sound era was only two years old. In other words, just two years prior, she would have been emoting in the old style of silent film, with grand gestures and exaggerated facial expressions. And yet here she is in this movie, acting for the camera with the modified expressions and greater emotional nuance that sound afforded, because now we could hear the human voice. Mae Clarke would have been one of the first crop of actors to work in this new style, and though at times early in the film you can see that she is "staging" it (acting as if in a play), as the film progesses, she gives a performance that any great actress of the modern era would be proud to emulate.
Wow for Mae Clarke, and for "Waterloo Bridge" by James Whale, whose distinctive Expressionistic style is at work here.
A great movie, concise at 80 minutes, and of historic value as well, as it demonstrates the creative transfer from the silent era to the sound. Two Big Thumbs Up.
See you in the morning after a sleep-in. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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